


Building A New Autumn

by Nautilusopus



Series: FFVII Halloween Week 2019 [7]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen, Introspection, Post-Canon, fall traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-01
Packaged: 2021-01-16 15:40:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21273599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nautilusopus/pseuds/Nautilusopus
Summary: There's a set of traditions that come with the changing of the seasons, but these days they mostly just build their own.(Written for FFVII Halloween Week: Day 7 - Autumn Traditions)





	Building A New Autumn

**Author's Note:**

> Thank god it's over. Never doing this again.

Aeris's flowers are dying.

Cloud knew they wouldn't last forever, but it's still sad to watch them go. He visits more and more often, trying to burn them into his memory, since the disposable camera won't capture things like the smell, or the strange peace that's settled into the old rotting wood of the abandoned church.

They've already made up their minds to replant in the spring, like they always do. Saved up some money, picked out some flowers, stored what bulbs they could indoors for the winter. There's more pots in Cloud's room right now than there is floor.

Thus, he's forced downstairs onto the couch in the back, doodling arrangements. He doesn't know if they're realistic ones to have, or if the flowers will grow anywhere else. They should, shouldn't they? Now that the reactors have been shut down for a few years now.

He wonders if she'd object to growing fruits or vegetables. She never had before -- because she disliked the idea of a food garden, or because the soil wouldn't have supported it, even with a Cetra helping them along? The flowers there these days might have been grown by Avalanche, but the garden was still unambiguously considered hers.

Well -- something to worry about in the spring. For now, it's still autumn, which means Tifa is now hovering behind him with what must be every blanket in the house.

"Scooch over," she says, dumping them on his lap as she sets up the space heater. Anyone else would be using a fireplace, but the tiny living area behind and above Seventh Heaven lack one, and neither one of them find the smell of burning relaxing either.

It's rather chilly outside, and the subtle smell of hot metal as both heaters work to counteract it fills the air. There are no trees in Edge -- no way to watch the leaves change and blow away in a brilliant burst of red and orange and gold. Denzel grew up in Midgar and cannot miss what he's never seen, and Cloud's memory of his childhood is hazy and miserable, but Tifa is the one that had something to lose in all the little rituals that come with the changing of the seasons.

The back room is full of colour now, from the variety of pillows and blankets she's laid out on the floor. Cloud helps her set down the tray she's brought in without spilling boiling liquid all over them, then waits as she settles next to him on the couch. It doesn't frighten him as much as it used to, this much contact with someone else. Even if he has to stop and outright remind himself that this isn't something that can be "earned", and therefore nothing that he doesn't "deserve".

Tifa's so warm. Faintly, he can feel her pulse through her skin. It's tempting to just fall asleep right here.

One of them will, eventually. They always do. The tea is still cooling, though, and he wants to at least finish his cup before it goes to waste when he wakes up hours later, with Denzel getting home from school.

Not many crops are grown close to Edge yet, so Tifa's brought out chunks of roasted meat in lieu of anything made from any sort of squash. The air is empty of colour, so they've brought their own indoors. There is no fire here -- it's safe. The warmed metal is unique to their home in Edge.

There isn't much space for the old traditions anymore, but Cloud thinks he could certainly get used to these new ones, too.


End file.
